This Day in Automotive History

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21st June

June 21 1947
After an interim of seven years, during which World War II wreaked havoc across the European continent, the first post-war Mille Miglia auto race is held on this day in 1947 in Brescia, Italy.
The Mille Miglia ("Thousand Miles") was the brainchild of the Brescia Automobile Club, formed in 1926 under the leadership of Franco Mazzotti and Count Aymo Maggi. An important center for Italian motor sports since the turn of the century, Brescia was smarting over the fact that Monza (near Milan) had been chosen as the site of the prestigious Italian Grand Prix. Using its considerable political connections, the fledgling automobile club gained the approval of Italy's Fascist government to run a race from Brescia to Rome--a distance of some 1,600 kilometers (around 1,000 miles) on Italian public roads. The first race, held on March 26 and 27, 1927, featured all of the leading Italian drivers; foreign participation was limited to three tiny French-made Peugeots in the lower-power Class H field. Cars made by local manufacturer Officine Meccaniche (OM) captured the three top spots. The winner completed the course in a little more than 20 hours, at an average speed of more than 77 kilometers per hour.
After an entrant spun out of control during the 1938 Mille Miglia, killing 10 spectators--, including seven children--the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini banned the race. It resumed briefly during wartime but was suspended again after the 13th running in 1940. After World War II ended in 1945, much of Italy's infrastructure, including roads and bridges, had to be rebuilt, gasoline and rubber were still being rationed and the country's new government was struggling to demonstrate its effectiveness in the wake of the Fascist movement's demise. Mille Miglia organizers were forced to postpone the starting date from late April to June 1947; they also switched to a new 1,800-kilometer route. Finally, on June 21, 1947, 155 starters left the line for the 14th edition of the Mille Miglia. Aided by a violent rainstorm that hampered runner-up Tazio Nuvolari's small Cisitalia convertible, the driver Clemente Biondetti won the race in an Alfa Romeo.
Even in its new incarnation, Italian drivers and cars dominated the race, which popularized such powerhouse brands as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati. Tragically, driver Alfonso de Portago blew a tire and spun off the road during the 1957 edition, killing himself, his co-driver and 10 spectators. Three days later, the Italian government banned the Mille Miglia and all other motor racing on Italian public road

June 21 1947
William Clay Ford married Martha Firestone, uniting two of the greatest fortunes in the American automotive industry. Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone had been close friends and allies during their lives after Firestone received the exclusive contract to supply tires for Ford's Model T. Neither man lived to see the union of their families.

Clemente Biondetti, winner of 1947 Mille Miglia

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia
ford.com​

 

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22nd June

June 22nd 1915
Joseph Lewinka, of Philadelphia, PA, received a patent for an "Automobile-Body"; design.

June 22nd 1934
Ferdinand Porsche contracted with Automobile Manufacturers Association of Germany (RDA) to build three prototype "people's cars". The contract was a direct result of Hitler's personal request to Porsche that he design such a car.


June 22nd 2001
On this day in 2001, "The Fast and the Furious," a crime drama based in the underground world of street racing in Southern California, debuts in theaters across the United States.
In the film, directed by Rob Cohen, Paul Walker starred as Brian O'Connor, an undercover cop who infiltrates the illegal late-night racing scene in Los Angeles to catch a gang suspected of hijacking big-rig trucks to get the parts to outfit their souped-up cars. As the movie opens, O'Connor is practicing his high-speed driving in order to blend in with his targets; his vehicle is a bright green 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse, which he powers through an empty parking lot near Dodger Stadium. Later on, O'Connor loses the title to the Mitsubishi to Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), the leader of the gang of suspected thieves, after a street race. Toretto, the reigning "king of the streets," dominates the competition in his powerful fire-engine red 1993 Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo. In another scene, Toretto drives a hulking vintage 1969/1970 Dodge Charger.
These were just three of the cars featured prominently in the high-speed, high-impact racing scenes that punctuate "The Fast and the Furious." The screenplay for the film was based on an article about the street-racing scene titled "Racer X," written by Kenneth Li and published in Vibe magazine in 1998. Street racing (an illegal practice that should not be confused with drag racing, which is a popular sport most commonly done on a track, along a straight "drag" strip) began in the early 1990s on the roads and highways of Southern California, mostly among young Asian Americans, but quickly spread; Li's article chronicled the adventures of a racer living in New York City. Like many street racers, the characters in "The Fast and the Furious" favor low-slung Acura Integras, Honda Civics, and other common Japanese-made compact cars that are modified so that they can reach speeds of around 160 mph.
Despite mixed reviews from critics, "The Fast and the Furious" was an unexpected hit at the box office. It spawned three sequels: "2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003), "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006) and "Fast & Furious" (2009), in which the four main co-stars of the first film--Walker, Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster--all reprised their roles.


Nazi Ad. from c.1939 says "Five mark a week you must put aside - If in your own car you want to ride!"


Fast and the Furious movie poster

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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23rd June

June 23rd 1902
On this day in 1902, German automaker Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) first registers "Mercedes" as a brand name; the name will gain full legal protection the next September.
Mechanical engineer Gottlieb Daimler sold his first luxury gasoline-powered automobile to the sultan of Morocco in 1899; a year later, he formed DMG in his hometown [or whatever] of Cannstatt, Germany. Emil Jellinek, a prominent Austrian diplomat and businessman who was extremely enthusiastic about the development of the automobile, ordered a car from Daimler in 1897. The carmaker delivered a six-horsepower vehicle with a two-cylinder engine, but it was too slow for Jellinek; to replace it, he ordered two of a faster model--the four-cylinder Daimler Phoenix. Soon, Jellinek began to sell Daimler cars to high society customers and to drive them in racing events, including Nice Week on the French Riviera, in 1899. He entered these races using the pseudonym "Mercedes," the name of his elder daughter.
In April 1900, Jellinek signed an agreement with DMG to distribute and sell a new line of four-cylinder vehicles. He suggested they call the car Mercedes, feeling that the non-German name might sell better in France. On December 22, 1900, DMG delivered the first Mercedes to Jellinek. Designed by Wilhelm Maybach, chief engineer for DMG, the 35-horsepower vehicle featured a pressed-steel chassis (or frame), honeycomb radiator, mechanical intake valves and an improved gearbox; it could achieve a speed of 53 mph. For this combination of attributes, the 1901 Mercedes is considered to have been the first truly modern automobile.
At Nice Week in March 1901, Mercedes race cars nearly swept the field, and orders began pouring into DMG's Cannstatt factory. "Mercedes" was registered as a brand name on June 22, 1902, and legally protected the following September 26. In June 1903, Emil Jellinek obtained permission to take the name Jellinek-Mercedes, observing that it was "probably the first time that a father has borne the name of his daughter."
The famous Mercedes symbol, a three-point star, was registered as a trademark in 1909 and used on all Mercedes vehicles from 1910 onward. It had its origins in a story that Paul and Adolf Daimler, sons of Gottlieb Daimler and senior executives at DMG, remembered about their father, who died in 1900. On a postcard with a picture of Cologne and Deutz, where he was working at the time in the Deutz engine factory, the elder Daimler had drawn a star over the house where he was living. In the card's message, he told his wife the star represented the prosperity that would shine on them in the future, when he would have his own factory.

June 23rd 1951
Michèle Mouton was born in Grasse, France. She is the most successful and well-known female rally driver of all time, as well as arguably the most successful female in motor racing as a whole. She was the first and so far the only woman to win a round of the World Rally Championship, the Rallye Sanremo in 1981.

June 23rd 1991
Bertrand Gachot, Johnny Herbert, and Volker Wiedler won the 24-Hours of Le Mans driving a Mazda. It was the first time an automaker outside of Western Europe had won the prestigious title.The 1991 Mazda was also the first car to win Le Mans with a Wankel rotary engine. The engine consisted of four rotors with three sequential spark plugs per rotor. The Mazda drove 4,923 kilometers at an average speed of 295kmh.

Michèle Mouton with her Audi Quatro S1


Mazda 787B No.55 in Otaru synthesis museum

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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June 24th 1900
Oliver Lippincott became the first motorist in Yosemite National Park, when he drove his Toledo Automobile Company-built car to the South Rim from Flagstaff. Lippincott would start a trend with his visit, as motorists increasingly chose to drive to National Parks, avoiding the more time-consuming train and coach rides. By 1901, a number of other motorists had made the trip to Yosemite, mostly in Locomobiles.

June 24th 1928
The rocket-powered Opel RAK 3 debuted on a section of railroad track near Hanover, Germany. With approximately 20,000 spectators looking on, the rocket car recorded a rail-speed record of 157mph on its first run. The result of a rather odd experiment, the RAK 3 carried a caged cat as its driver. Tragically, on the car's second run, too many of its rockets fired at once and the car crashed, killing its feline pilot.

Rocket rail vehicle Opel-Sander Rak.3 in June 1928.


Rocket installation. On the left Fritz von Opel, the right Friedrich Wilhelm Sander.


Rak.3 rocket train during burn

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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25th June

June 25th 1956
The last Packard--the classic American luxury car with the famously enigmatic slogan "Ask the Man Who Owns One"--rolls off the production line at Packard's plant in Detroit, Michigan on this day in 1956.
Mechanical engineer James Ward Packard and his brother, William Dowd Packard, built their first automobile, a buggy-type vehicle with a single cylinder engine, in Warren, Ohio in 1899. The Packard Motor Car Company earned fame early on for a four-cylinder aluminum speedster called the "Gray Wolf," released in 1904. It became one of the first American racing cars to be available for sale to the general public. With the 1916 release of the Twin Six, with its revolutionary V-12 engine, Packard established itself as the country's leading luxury-car manufacturer. World War I saw Packard convert to war production earlier than most companies, and the Twin Six was adapted into the Liberty Aircraft engine, by far the most important single output of America's wartime industry.
Packards had large, square bodies that suggested an elegant solidity, and the company was renowned for its hand-finished attention to detail. In the 1930s, however, the superior resources of General Motors and the success of its V-16 engine pushed Cadillac past Packard as the premier luxury car in America. Packard diversified by producing a smaller, more affordable model, the One Twenty, which increased the company's sales. The coming of World War II halted consumer car production in the United States. In the postwar years, Packard struggled as Cadillac maintained a firm hold on the luxury car market and the media saddled the lumbering Packard with names like "bathtub" or "pregnant elephant."
With sales dwindling by the 1950s, Packard merged with the much larger Studebaker Corporation in the hope of cutting its production costs. The new Packard-Studebaker became the fourth largest manufacturer of cars. Studebaker was struggling as well, however, and eventually dropped all its own big cars as well as the Packard. In 1956, Packard-Studebaker's then-president, James Nance, made the decision to suspend Packard's manufacturing operations in Detroit. Though the company would continue to manufacture cars in South Bend, Indiana, until 1958, the final model produced on June 25, 1956, is considered the last true Packard.


June 25th 1964
John Paul Herbert was on born June 25, 1964 in Romford, London, England. He is a former racing driver from England. He competed in Formula One, winning three races, and also in sports cars winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1991 driving a Mazda 787B. They only non-european car to win Le-Mans that too with a rotary engine.

The 1956 Packard Caribbean was the last "real" packard.



The 1956 Packard Caribbean's 374 cubic-inch V-8 engine
delivered 310 horsepower.


The 1956 Packard Caribbean's seat covers were reversible, from cloth to leather.


Herbert as Sporting Relations Manager of MF1 Racing in 2006.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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26th June

June 26 1906
The first French Grand Prix, the first race of that kind to be held anywhere was staged in Le Mans by the Automobile Club of France and won by Hungarian driver Ferenc Szisz in a 90hp Renault. The race covered 1,200 kilometers over two days, and was run under a new set of rules that would become a standard element of Grand Prix racing.

June 26th 1925
After two years of stock acquisitions by Walter Chrysler and Harry Bronner, Chrysler Corporation was incorporated in Delaware, Later it took over Maxwell Motor Corporation with Walter P. Chrysler as president and chairman of the board.

June 26th 1971
Massimiliano "Max" Biaggi, Italian motercycle racer was born in Rome, Italy. Biaggi is also known as the Roman Emperor and Mad Max and is notorious for his difficult relationship with the press, team personnel and other riders.

Ferenc Szisz during the 1906 Grand Prix


Ferenc Szisz and his riding mechanic winning the 1906 race



Max Biaggi

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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27th June

June 27th 1909
Mercedes Benz introduced three-pointed star symbol.

June 27th 1955
Illinois, the 21st state of United State enacted first automobile seat belt legislation.


June 27th 1985
After 59 years, the iconic Route 66 enters the realm of history on this day in 1985, when the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials de-certifies the road and votes to remove all its highway signs.
Measuring some 2,200 miles in its heyday, Route 66 stretched from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, passing through eight states. According to a New York Times article about its decertification, most of Route 66 followed a path through the wilderness forged in 1857 by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Edward Beale at the head of a caravan of camels. Over the years, wagon trains and cattlemen eventually made way for trucks and passenger automobiles.
The idea of building a highway along this route surfaced in Oklahoma in the mid-1920s as a way to link the state to cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. Highway Commissioner Cyrus S. Avery touted it as a way of diverting traffic from Kansas City, Missouri and Denver. In 1926, the highway earned its official designation as Route 66. The diagonal course of Route 66 linked hundreds of mostly rural communities to the cities along its route, allowing farmers to more easily transport grain and other types of produce for distribution. The highway was also a lifeline for the long-distance trucking industry, which by 1930 was competing with the railroad for dominance in the shipping market.
Route 66 was the scene of a mass westward migration during the 1930s, when more than 200,000 people traveled from the poverty-stricken Dust Bowl to California. John Steinbeck immortalized the highway, which he called the "Mother Road," in his classic 1939 novel "The Grapes of Wrath."
Beginning in the 1950s, the building of a massive system of interstate highways made older roads increasingly obsolete, and by 1970, modern four-lane highways had bypassed nearly all sections of Route 66. In October 1984, Interstate-40 bypassed the last original stretch of Route 66 at Williams, Arizona, and the following year the road was decertified. According to the National Historic Route 66 Federation, drivers can still use 85 percent of the road, and Route 66 has become a destination for tourists from all over the world.
Often called the "Main Street of America," Route 66 became a pop culture mainstay over the years, inspiring its own song (written in 1947 by Bobby Troup, "Route 66" was later recorded by artists as varied as Nat "King" Cole, Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones) as well as a 1960s television series. More recently, the historic highway was featured prominently in the hit animated film "Cars" (2006).

Mercedes Benz Logo


Route 66

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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28th June

June 28th 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia, while riding in an The 1911 Gräf & Stift Double Phaeton (Austro Daimler)that was chauffeured by Otto Merz, a Mercedes team driver. The assassination resulted in the outbreak of World War I.

June 28th 1926
Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) merged to form Daimler-Benz AG.

June 28th 1931
Robert Glen Johnson Junior famously known as Junior Johnson was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He was a legendary moonshiner (bootlegger) in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s he became a highly successful NASCAR racing team owner. He sponsored such NASCAR champions as Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. He is credited with discovering drafting/slipstreaming

Junior Johnson


The 1911 Gräf & Stift Double Phaeton in which the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was riding at the time of his assassination.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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29th June

June 29th 1902
Marcel Renault won the four-day Paris-to-Vienna race, driving a car of his own design. The early city-to-city races were the largest sporting events of that era. Some three million people turned out to cheer Renault on to victory during the 15-hour, 615-mile race. These races were discontinued in large part due to Renault's fatal accident the following year at the Paris-Madrid race.

June 29th 1932
Audiwerke, Horchwerke, Zschopauer Motorenwerke - DKW, Automobile Division of Wanderer merged to formed Auto Union AG (second-largest motor vehicle manufacturer in Germany.). The new company's logo, four interlinked rings, one for each of founder companies was adopted. Horch was on supervisory board of Auto Union.

June 29th 1956
President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law the Highway Revenue Act of 1956 which outlined a policy of taxation with the aim of creating a fund for the construction of over 42,500 miles of interstate highways. The plan called for $50 billion over 13 years to pay for the project. A system of taxes, relying heavily on the taxation of gasoline, was implemented. Eisenhower thought of the Federal Interstate System as his greatest achievement.

June 29th 1957
Giuseppe Bacciagaluppi, managing director of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, staged the first race at his newly remodeled track, a match race between the top 10 Indy Car drivers and the top 10 Formula One drivers in the world. Monza enjoyed the reputation of being Europe's fastest racetrack. Jimmy Bryan of the United States won the Two Worlds Trophy in a Salih roadster at 160mph. The race did little to settle the dispute as to where the world's best drivers reside, on the high-speed ovals of the United States or on the curvy Grand Prix tracks of Europe. In those days, many racers bridged the gap between the two worlds-- like Jim Clark, who won at Indy in the same year he captured the F1 crown. Today it is widely held that the world's best drivers compete on the F1 circuit, though the specialized cars of today make the two types of racing more difficult to compare.

June 29th 1985
Jim Pattison purchased a custom-painted Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine that had belonged to John Lennon for $2,229,000. Lennon had purchased the car in 1966 and asked a friend to paint the car with a period-typical psychedelic design pattern. The auction sale price was 10 times Sotheby's initial estimate.

Marcel Renault and his mechanic, Vauthier, taking part in the 1903 Paris-Madrid race


Auto Union logo


John Lenon's Rolls Royce

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

[AMG]

Who is/was John Lennon?

 

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June 30 1926
GM traded 667,720 shares of its own stock, at market value of $136 million to acquire remaining 40 percent of Fisher Body to make Fisher Body Division of GM.

June 30th 1953
On this day in 1953, the first production Corvette is built at the General Motors facility in Flint, Michigan. Tony Kleiber, a worker on the assembly line, is given the privilege of driving the now-historic car off the line.
Harley J. Earl, the man behind the Corvette, got his start in his father's business, Earl Automobile Works, designing custom auto bodies for Hollywood movie stars such as Fatty Arbuckle. In 1927, General Motors hired Earl to redesign the LaSalle, the mid-range option the company had introduced between the Buick and the Cadillac. Earl's revamped LaSalle sold some 50,000 units by the end of 1929, before the Great Depression permanently slowed sales and it was discontinued in 1940. By that time, Earl had earned more attention for designing the Buick "Y Job," recognized as the industry's first "concept" car. Its relatively long, low body came equipped with innovations such as disappearing headlamps, electric windows and air-cooled brake drums over the wheels like those on an airplane.
After scoring another hit with the 1950 Buick LeSabre, Earl headed into the 1950s--a boom decade for car manufacturers--at the top of his game. In January 1953, he introduced his latest "dream car," the Corvette, as part of GM's traveling Motorama display at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The sleek Corvette, the first all-fiberglass-bodied American sports car, was an instant hit. It went into production the following June in Flint; 300 models were built that year. All 1953 Corvettes were white convertibles with red interiors and black canvas tops. Underneath its sleek exterior, however, the Corvette was outfitted with parts standard to other GM automobiles, including a "Blue Flame" six-cylinder engine, two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission and the drum brakes from Chevrolet's regular car line.
The Corvette's performance as a sports car was disappointing relative to its European competitors, and early sales were unimpressive. GM kept refining the design, however, and the addition of its first V-8 engine in 1955 greatly improved the car's performance. By 1961, the Corvette had cemented its reputation as America's favorite sports car. Today, it continues to rank among the world's elite sports cars in acceleration time, top speed and overall muscle.

June 30th 1969
The last U.S. produced Rambler (an American Rambler) rolls off the production line in Kenosha. A total of 4,204,925 had been made.
The Nash Rambler had originally been developed by George Walter Mason after World War II. Mason realized before anyone else that the postwar "seller's market" would evaporate once the market was again saturated with cars. He foresaw the difficulty that independent car companies would experience once they were faced with head-to-head competition with the Big Three's massive production capabilities. It was Mason's theory that to compete with the Big Three, the independents needed to market a different product. He developed a number of smaller cars, including the Rambler, the Nash-Healey (a collaboration with British Healey), and the Metropolitan. None of the cars managed to capture the American market. But years later, after Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson merged to become AMC, the Rambler finally caught on as a sub-compact car. George Romney, Mason's protÉgÉ, coined the term "gas-guzzling dinosaur" to describe the Big Three's products. Romney led a personal ad campaign promoting the AMC Rambler as an efficient, reliable car. His campaign was immensely successful, and the Rambler single-handedly kept AMC alive during impossible times for independents.
The Rambler marque was continued in numerous international markets. Examples include AMC Hornets and AMC Matadors assembled by the Australian Motor Industries (AMI) from CKD kits that continued to be badged as Ramblers until 1978. The Rambler nameplate was last used on automobiles in 1983 by Vehiculos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM) in Mexico.
In Argentina, the Rambler American became the IKA Torino in 1967. It then became the Renault Torino and was offered until 1980.

Corvette Unveiling


SC/Rambler in "A" trim

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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Who is/was John Lennon?

John Lennon

 

[Landrover]

1st July

July 1st 1913
Carl Fisher, President of Prest-o-lite, formed Lincoln Highway Association with headquarters in Detroit, MI. Henry Joy, President of Packard Motor Cars, came up with the idea of naming the highway after Abraham Lincoln to build coast-to-coast paved road; envisioned improved, hard-surfaced road that would stretch almost 3400 miles from coast to coast, New York to San Francisco, over shortest practical route; promoted road using private, corporate donations; Henry Joy elected as president. Carl Fisher elected vice-president.

July 1st 1948
Achille Varzi, an Italian Grand Prix driver who died during practice runs for the 1948 Swiss Grand Prix during light rain. His car skidded on the wet surface, flipping over and crushing him to death. Varzi's death resulted in the FIA mandating the wearing of crash helmets for racing, which had been optional previously. He used to race for Buggati and Alfa Romeo.


July 1st 2005
The last Thunderbird, Ford Motor Company's iconic sports car, emerges from a Ford factory in Wixom, Michigan on this day in 2005.
Ford began its development of the Thunderbird in the years following World War II, during which American servicemen had the opportunity to observe sleek European sports cars. General Motors built the first American sports car: the Chevrolet Corvette, released in 1953. The undeniably sleek Corvette's initial engine performance was relatively underwhelming, but it was gaining lots of attention from the press and public, and Ford was motivated to respond, rushing the Thunderbird to the market in 1955. The 1955 Thunderbird was an immediate hit, selling more than 14,000 that year (compared to just 700 Corvettes). The success of the Thunderbird led Chevrolet to continue production of (and improve upon) the Corvette, which soon became a tough competitor in the sports car market.
In addition to the powerful V-8 engine that Ford was known for, the Thunderbird boasted all the conveniences consumers had become accustomed to, including a removable hard convertible top, soundproofing and the accessories standard to most Ford cars. In 1958, to satisfy critics who thought the T-Bird was too small, Ford released a four-seater version with a roomier trunk and bucket seats. The Beach Boys elevated the Thunderbird to pop- culture-icon status in 1964 by including it in the lyrics of their hit single "Fun Fun Fun" ("she'll have fun, fun, fun 'til her daddy takes the T-Bird away"). By that time, President John F. Kennedy had already included 50 Thunderbirds in his inaugural procession in 1961, and a T-Bird would also feature prominently in the 1973 film "American Graffiti."
Thunderbird sales slowed during the 1990s, and Ford discontinued the Thunderbird in 1997. In 2002, however, in an attempt to capitalize on car buyers' nostalgia, the company launched production of a retro T-Bird, a two-seater convertible that took some of its styling from the original classic. The luxury retailer Neiman Marcus offered an early special edition version in their 2000 Christmas catalog, priced at just under $42,000; their stock of 200 sold out in two hours and 15 minutes. Despite brisk early sales and good reviews, sales of the new Thunderbird couldn't justify continued production, and Ford discontinued it again in mid-2005.


Alfa Romeo team drivers, Achille Varzi (4th from left)

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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2nd July

July 2nd 1910
Frank D. and Spencer Stranahan incorporated Champion Spark Plug Company in Toledo, Ohio in accordance with manufacturing contract with Willys-Overland Company.

June 2nd 1992
Original Corvette engineer Zora Arkus Duntov drove the one-millionth Chevrolet Corvette off of the assembly line in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The event was monumental to both America's first sports car and the man that made the car possible.
The color choice for the one millionth Corvette - white with red interior and black roof - was appropriate. This was a nod to the 1953 Corvette, whose entire production run of 300 units featured the same livery

Duntov and the Corvette Sting Ray


Zora Arkus-Duntov (left) and Dave McLellan, the past and present Corvette chief engineers.

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​

 

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3rd July

July 3rd 1909
Hudson Motor Car Company in Detroit, Michigan began production with the Model 20. The company had several 'firsts' for the auto industry: self starter, dual brakes, first balanced crankshaft which allowed the Hudson straight-6 engine to work at a higher rotational speed while remaining smooth, developed more power than lower-revving engines.

July 3rd 1978
Ernest R. Breech, chairman of the Ford Motor Company from 1955-1960, died in Royal Oak, Michigan at the age of 81. Breech had been at the top of the accounting world when Henry Ford II had personally pleaded with him to join the ailing Ford Motor Company and take a chance at reviving one of America's historic corporations.


July 3rd 1985
On this day in 1985, the blockbuster action-comedy "Back to the Future"--in which John DeLorean's iconic concept car is memorably transformed into a time-travel device--is released in theaters across the United States.
"Back to the Future," directed by Robert Zemeckis, starred Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, a teenager who travels back 30 years using a time machine built by the zany scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Doc's mind-blowing creation consists of a DeLorean DMC-12 sports car outfitted with a nuclear reactor. Once the car reaches a speed of 88 miles per hour, the plutonium-powered reactor achieves the "1.21 gigawatts" of power necessary to travel through time. Marty arrives in 1955 only to stumble in the way of his own parents (Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson) and keep them from meeting for the first time, thus putting his own life in jeopardy.
A veteran of the Packard Motor Company and General Motors, John DeLorean founded the DeLorean Motor Company in Detroit in 1975 to pursue his vision of a futuristic sports car. DeLorean eventually set up a factory in Dunmurry, near Belfast in Northern Ireland. There, he built his iconic concept car: the DMC-12, known simply as the DeLorean. An angular vehicle with gull-wing doors, the DeLorean had an unpainted stainless-steel body and a rear-mounted engine. To accommodate taller drivers (like its designer, who was over six feet tall), the car had a roomy interior compared to most sports cars.
Although it was built in Northern Ireland, the DeLorean was intended predominantly for an American audience, so it was built with the driver's seat on the left-hand side. The company built about 9,000 of the cars before it ran out of money and halted production in 1982; only 6,500 of those are still in existence. Despite its short lifespan, the DeLorean remains an object of great interest to car collectors and enthusiasts, no doubt largely due to the smashing success of "Back to the Future" and its two sequels, released in 1989 and 1990. John DeLorean died in March of 2005, at the age of 80.


Ernest R. Breech with Henry ford II alongside Ford Falcon.


"Back to the Future" Movie poster.


Retrofitted Delorean DMC12 used in the Movie

Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia​